‘We knew’ - Brighton chief reveals club used Newcastle United’s PSR worries to sign ‘superb’ star

Newcastle United were forced into selling Minteh to Brighton at the end of June in order to comply with the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules. Breaching those would have resulted in a points deduction for the Magpies.

Ultimately, the sale of Minteh to Brighton for £33m and Elliot Anderson to Nottingham Forest for £35m allowed them to comply with the PSR rules and avoid any penalties. Neither were a deal that Newcastle United wanted to do this summer, but their hands were forced due to the PSR deadline at the end of June.

Newcastle’s loss was Brighton’s gain, however, with Minteh already showing great quality during their opening few Premier League matches. The 20-year-old spent last season on-loan at Feyenoord and didn’t kick a single ball for the Magpies before moving to the Amex Stadium.

Speaking to the Athletic, Bloom has revealed how Brighton had been tracking Minteh for some time and they were able to complete a deal for the ‘superb’ winger because of PSR issues facing Newcastle United: “We are always within the limits and we will always be fine while I am chairman. Certainly, we were aware of other clubs and other situations. We’ve had a very odd situation, which I think is a one-off this year, whereby certain clubs had to sell by June 30, which is the end of the year for most clubs’ accounts.

“Minteh was a player we had followed for a while. We were certainly aware of him a year ago when he went to Newcastle [from Odense Boldklub]. He had a fabulous season [at Feyenoord]. We knew about that and that deadline and we were able to get him in; a superb player, a young player who will hopefully improve as well. We were able to do that at the end of June and that was because of the PSR issues that certain clubs had.”